IMPRIMERIES CLANDESTINES
PENTAGRAM PAPERS 13
Photography by Robert Doisneau
John McConnell [Design], Robert Doisneau [Photographs]: IMPRIMERIES CLANDESTINES [PENTAGRAM PAPERS 13]. London and New York: Pentagram Design, n.d [1986]. First edition [limited to @ 2,000 copies]. Sm. 4to. Plain black wrappers in a printed dust jacket. 46 pp. Black and white photographs throughout. Very mild edgewear. A nearly fine copy.
5.75 x 8.25 perfect-bound booklet in dust jacket. Reprint of the 1945 issue of "Le Point" entitled 'Underground Presses,' a tribute to the work of the underground presses and the powerof their tenacious commitment to freedom of expression. Photography by Robert Doisneau.
From the wrappers: "Pentagram Papers will publish examples of curious, entertaining, stimulating, provocative, and occasionally controversial points of view that have come to the attention of, or in some cases, are actually originated by, Pentagram."
Since 1975 Pentagram has issued the Pentagram Papers, a limited edition series of booklets that examine "curious, entertaining, stimulating, provocative, and occasionally controversial points of view" related to design. Published once or twice a year, the Papers have been distributed exclusively to friends and clients of the firm.
Each Pentagram Paper explores a unique topic of interest -- from the lights of London's famed Savoy hotel to the pop architecture of Wildwood, New Jersey; from the mailboxes of rural Australia to the classroom aids of Mexico. As partner architect James Biber says, "These [pamphlets] began with John McConnell, one of the early partners; he helped developed the ideas; they weren't rubber-stamped. McConnell was keen on ideas. Especially the idea that you could actually learn something."
For mysterious reasons that can only be in part attributed to their origins as a design group, the people at Pentagram have been able to maintain a design commitment that uniquely displays the benefits of working co-operatively. — Milton Glaser
Much of the most exemplary work in today's graphic field is from their hands. Their solutions have been followed or copied by many but there has never been a Pentagram style. They are designers who first of all solve the problems of their clients in a very creative and challenging way. —Wim Crouwel
Pentagram still presents itself as a very unique formula of beautifully balanced elements, each one preserving its personality, yet contributing to the whole an unmistakable character. Highly professional, tenderly romantic, extremely empirical, they represent for me the best the English tradition offers today. —Massimo Vignelli
The success of this group of designers in maintaining consistently high standards of analytical and creative thinking, originality as well as of formal design, reveals rare organisational talents. Is it that the Pentagram consortium is in itself a brilliant design solution? — Herbert Spencer